Russia’s liberal opposition has evolved from the optimism of the early post-Soviet era to exiled figures backing Western sanctions and calls for regional self-determination, RT’s Marina Kosareva reports. Some have gone as far as advocating Russia’s breakup into multiple states.

In a report aired on Thursday, Kosareva traces the movement from the hopes surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union to the increasingly confrontational positions adopted by some opposition figures abroad.

”It all started with lots of hopes and dreams,” Kosareva says, recalling aspirations for “a better future, freedom, democracy.”

After Boris Yeltsin won Russia’s first presidential election in 1991, his government launched sweeping market reforms, including price liberalization and privatization. The transition brought severe economic disruption, soaring prices, and falling living standards, eroding public confidence in both the reforms and the political forces associated with them.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, opposition politicians continued to campaign for competitive elections, freer media, and political change.

”Some of them set up their own media outlets, often with Western funding, which led to the now infamous Foreign Agent Law,” Kosareva said.

As relations between Russia and the West deteriorated after 2014, some opposition figures began openly supporting Western sanctions and military aid to Ukraine.

”Russia must be kicked from all international organizations, including Interpol. Financial blockade must be full,” former world chess champion and opposition figure Garry Kasparov said in 2022.

Others went further, advocating self-determination for Russia’s national republics. A 2026 declaration backed by opposition figures called for transforming “imperial Russia into a modern democratic state or several democratic states.”

Kosareva asks whether liberalism has become permanently associated with foreign influence in Russia, or whether the problem lies with those who came to represent it.

”Either way, the trust has been broken,” she concludes.

Watch the full report below.